What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

I'm getting ready to make myself a new boat cover and I'm wondering what my original cover was made out of, especially since it lasted so long. I read in a search on this forum that they were made out of Sunbrella, but mine really doesn't look like Sunbrella to me.

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

This is a quote right from the '96 brochure: "All Mariah boats can be complemented by color matched "Pre-Fixx" canvas and Sunbrella travel covers hand sown with Goretex thread which provides you with a "Goretex" limited lifetime warranty against stitching failure".

I did have a look at my original travel cover but i dont see anything indicating what its made of.

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

Mine doesn't say either, but I thought Sunbrella is the same on both sides. Mine almost looks like a green vinyl on the outside and a white canvas on the inside. I'm no expert on Sunbrella, so maybe I'm just wrong about it.

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

Yours is different than mine then. Mine is solid one piece material and i'm inclined to think mine is Sunbrella.

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

You're right. Mine is a lot different than that. But it has factory Mariah tags on it.

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

The cracking in the second photo shows the white that the underside looks like

[IMG]http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/...8/IMG_2937.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/...8/IMG_2942.jpg[/IMG]

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

Sunbrella.

Exact-Fit™ Boat Cover for MARIAH® SHABAH 210 BOWRIDER (1996-1998) from RNR-Marine.com™ (made by Westland®)

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

Thanks RNR Marine but I already have a mooring cover. I'm needing a new cockpit/bow cover since my boat stays docked much of the year.

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

No problem. All Mariah canvas was Sunbrella.

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

Actually, the Original OEM canvas was NOT sunbrella.

It was Nautolex Prefixx vinyl for all the models except (182, 183, & 202)

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

Thanks so much ShabahZ28- that makes more sense. It certainly didn't look like Sunbrella. Sounds like a rather odd choice in material from the factory. Now I need to decide whether to use Sunbrella, which is the industry standard, or see if I can find this Nautolex, which really did well for me and looked great until it shrunk and cracked. Hmmmm.

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

Sunbrella is great, and requires minimal maintenance. The vinyl definitely needs some work to keep it looking good and protected to keep the cracking under control. The sunbrella is more or less the industry standard these days, you very rarely see vinyl tops and covers. The sunbrella is pricy, but somehow I think the Nautolex Prefixx vinyl would be more expensive in the long run if you were going to do a whole large canvas top configuration or mooring cover.

My Z280's got the OEM vinyl camper canvas, and while it does look good, (and different from any of the other boats in the marina), it also leaks like a sieve around the stitching during heavy rains because of the vinyl shrinking around the gore-tex stitching. When it's time to replace in the next few years, I'll be going with sunbrella :)

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

That's all good to know. Like you, I really liked the look of my old cover. It certainly looks more expensive than Sunbrella when it's next to another boat at the marina. But after hearing all that, I'm thinking I'll go with Sunbrella then too. Every place i find the Nautolex with pre-fixx says it's for seats. Never says anything about covers. I've found Sunbrella online for $15 per yard, which doesn't seem bad considering my local fabric store wanted $18 per yard for marine vinyl.

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

I believe you're right for pre-2001 Mariahs. It was all made in-house at Mariah until 2001.

All Mariah canvas after 2001 was Sunbrella... should have been more specific (and this model is the "original" Mariah, so I was wrong on it - sorry).

Vinyl is a poor cover material because a) it doesn't breath to let the interior dry out and b) it will absorb water and mildew over time.

Re: What are the original Mariah Covers made out of?
 

The cockpit & bow covers may have been but i dont think that the travel/storage covers were vinyl. At least mine certainly isn't and its the one that came with the boat. I did replace the original cockpit & bow cover from my boat about 6 yrs ago with Sunbrella and couldn't be more happy with it. The original vinyl stuff was mildewed & cracked.